New Ground-glass 8x10

[ThePenguin]

I have a B&J Commercial View 8x10, and the ground glass sucks! I can't see nothing on that thing.

What do you recommend? Can I do something to make the groundglass I have today any better or should I just get a new one?

thanks!

[cdholden]

Remove the cap from the lens!

What's wrong with the glass? Is it just dim or can you not focus the image on the glass?

[cowanw]

If there is a lot of tobacco smoke stain on it or just dirty, a soap and water wash works wonders as long as there is not a water based grid on the GG.

[ThePenguin]

There is no grid at all.

Well the problem is that I cant really see if its sharp or not, also it seems quite dim. I'll try wash it. Thanks

[jumanji]

GG is cheap. Just buy a new one.

[Ari]

Surplus Shed has kodak GGs.
Yanke on eBay makes a very good GG for a good price.
Steve Hopf makes an excellent GG for a good price.

[MIke Sherck]

Original ground glasses on older cameras always seemed dim and coarse to me, regardless of how carefully I washed them. The crowning moment came a number of years ago when a friend and I were photographing in the bottom of a ravine in Shades State Park in Indiana. I couldn't see well enough to focus on my Calumet CC-400's original screen, even under a heavy focusing cloth, while my friend who had a newer camera with a Maxwell screen didn't even need the focusing cloth! The difference was amazing! I went and bought a new focusing screen from Satin Snow and the difference was just staggering. Dump that old junk and get yourself a real ground glass!

Mike

[gth]

Original ground glasses on older cameras always seemed dim and coarse to me, regardless of how carefully I washed them. The crowning moment came a number of years ago when a friend and I were photographing in the bottom of a ravine in Shades State Park in Indiana. I couldn't see well enough to focus on my Calumet CC-400's original screen, even under a heavy focusing cloth, while my friend who had a newer camera with a Maxwell screen didn't even need the focusing cloth! The difference was amazing! I went and bought a new focusing screen from Satin Snow and the difference was just staggering. Dump that old junk and get yourself a real ground glass!

Mike

Anybody knows how an original Calumet C1 GG (new condition) compares to a "modern"? Supposedly the C1 GG was (is?) considered very good.

/gth

[ic-racer]

There is no grid at all.

Well the problem is that I cant really see if its sharp or not, also it seems quite dim. I'll try wash it. Thanks

A f 5.6 plasmat should give a nice bright image. What lens are you using? If it is a f12 wide-angle, it is going to be dim.

[IanG]

Original ground glasses on older cameras always seemed dim and coarse to me, regardless of how carefully I washed them. The crowning moment came a number of years ago when a friend and I were photographing in the bottom of a ravine in Shades State Park in Indiana. I couldn't see well enough to focus on my Calumet CC-400's original screen, even under a heavy focusing cloth, while my friend who had a newer camera with a Maxwell screen didn't even need the focusing cloth! The difference was amazing! I went and bought a new focusing screen from Satin Snow and the difference was just staggering. Dump that old junk and get yourself a real ground glass!

Mike

I think this is due to the quality (purity & finenes) of the grits used to gring the glass. I've reground quite a few screens and they are now substantially brighter. It's not just dirt you could see they were coarser to start with. Modern grits are much better graded.

Ian